Press Release

Northeastern University Deploys Meetinghouse's AEGIS Solution for Wireless LAN Security

"... AEGIS from Meetinghouse Mirrored our Needs."

Portsmouth, NH - November 3, 2003 - Meetinghouse, a leading developer of standards-based network authentication software for wired and wireless local-area networks, announces that its AEGIS solution for 802.1X/WPA authentication has been selected by Northeastern University to secure its wireless LAN (WLAN). The WLAN is currently fully deployed in the College of Business Administration. Pilot programs are also placed in Hayden Hall which houses classrooms and administrative offices. The AEGIS Solution is composed of AEGIS Server and AEGIS Client, both of which have been deployed by Northeastern.

Northeastern felt strongly about securing their WLAN with an industry-standard solution. "We view non-standard approaches as risky from an investment perspective," said Mark Hildebrand, Director of Enterprise Systems. AEGIS presented a cost-effective solution versus deploying an expensive virtual private network (VPN) that would require the maintenance of user certificates. In addition, the AEGIS Solution enables cross referencing with the university's back-end LDAP user database to spot and shut-down miscreants and virus-infected users in a targeted, non-disruptive fashion.

Other considerations were the need to support multiple operating system platforms, as well as EAP-TTLS, a tunneled authentication method which supports mutual authentication. The AEGIS Solution is unsurpassed in its broad operating system support and choice of EAP methods. AEGIS Client supports EAP-MD5, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, EAP-PEAP, and Cisco's LEAP on Linux, Mac OS X, Windows XP, NT, 2000, 98, ME, Pocket PC 2002 and Palm Tungsten C handhelds. AEGIS Server supports Microsoft MD5, TLS, TTLS, LEAP and PEAP on Linux, Solaris, and Windows XP/2000. Northeastern is utilizing Sun Solaris as their RADIUS server platform. AEGIS Server for the Solaris is the only commercially available standards-based solution for that operating system.

Robert Whelan, Northeastern's Director of Network Services, said, "We determined that we would stick with an industry standard, mainstream solutions approach. As a standards-based solution with broad platform support, AEGIS from Meetinghouse mirrored our needs."

"It's exciting when we can meet the needs of a customer so exactly," says Dr. Paul Goransson, President of Meetinghouse. "Meetinghouse offers a standards-based authentication solution that is broadly applied to meet the needs of customers like Northeastern. As the standards continue to evolve we believe Northeastern's choice of Meetinghouse be further validated."

About Northeastern University
Northeastern University, located in the heart of Boston, is one of the country's foremost urban campuses. A large private school, Northeastern serves the needs of full-time students and professionals reinvesting in themselves in Masters and other continuing education programs. Colleges include: Arts & Sciences, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Business Administration, Computer and Information Science, Criminal Justice, School of Engineering Technology and the School of Law. Visit www.neu.edu to learn more.

About Meetinghouse
Meetinghouse is the leading supplier of advanced 802.1X and EAP-based network security solutions for providing mutual authentication on wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks. Meetinghouse supports a wide selection of operating system platforms and authentication methods to provide enterprises with maximum flexibility forEndpoint Security and Integrity. The company markets to both enterprises and global hardware OEMs, and is at the forefront of standards-based 802.1X wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi authentication technologies. Meetinghouse’s 802.1X API and OEM Toolkits enable leading networking companies to rapidly support and deploy 802.1X, WPA, EAP, and Cisco Compatible Extensions enabled products.

Contacts: Mark Samber +1 603 430 7710